1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an AC generator for a vehicle and, particularly, a stator winding arrangement thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
WO92/06527 discloses an ac generator's stator having U-shaped conductor segments inserted into respective stator's slots from an end of a stator core so that turn portions can be disposed circumferentially at one end of the stator. As the number of the conductor segments disposed in each slot increases, the number of the turn portions increases. In the stator having four conductor members in each slot, two conductor members are disposed at the front of the slot and two conductor members are disposed at the rear of the slot. Two conductor members extending from one slot in the same circumferential direction have respective turn portions aligned circumferentially. Therefore, as the number of the aligned turn portions increases the distance therebetween decreases, thereby making cooling effect of the stator winding worse. In other words, as the distance between the aligned turn portions decreases, cooling air supplied by an inside cooling fan can not smoothly flow from radially outward between the turn portions.